FREMONT - After collecting drug take-back boxes from area police departments between April and July 2015, then-Sandusky County Sheriff Kyle Overmyer scoured the internet for information identifying and describing a wide variety of prescription pills including opioids such as Percocet and Vicodin.

In searches of Overmyer's internet use, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation found that the ex-sheriff — now serving a four-year prison term for stealing drugs and deceiving physicians to obtain pills — searched the internet to determine the identity of drugs using only the number printed on the pills and their colors, according to documents obtained this week by The News-Messenger through public records requests.

Overmyer had contended that he collected the take-back boxes from county police agencies to dispose of the pills through the Drug Enforcement Agency.

He was indicted by a Sandusky County grand jury in August 2016 on 43 criminal charges and pleaded guilty in November to 19 criminal counts, including misusing his department's Furtherance of Justice fund, stealing prescription medication from drug take-back boxes, and deceiving physicians to obtain opiate pain medication.

In the midst of his legal troubles, Overmyer lost his bid for re-election in the November general election.

Overmyer's searches on sites such as drugs.com — a drug identification and information website — included Percocet and Vicodin, which would result in a description of the pills, their side effects and pictures of what the pills looks like.

The former sheriff also did a web search for "luxury drug rehab" on Jan. 15, 2015.

His internet searches were recovered from a generic desktop computer, one of the three computers seized by BCI.

One of them, an Apple MacBook laptop, had its hard drive erased on Aug. 25, 2016, a day before Overmyer was taken into custody after being indicted.

Investigators were unable to recover any data from the MacBook because it had been wiped.

The third computer, a Dell laptop, had no activity reported after a new user was created July 5, 2010.

As part of the investigation, BCI agents also searched a Chevy Tahoe and Ford Expedition Overmyer had used used as sheriff.

One of the youngest sheriffs in the state when he was appointed in 2008, Overmyer's fall from grace landed him at the Allen Correctional Institution in Lima, where the 43-year-old prisoner is a member of the protective custody population, according to assistant prison warden Jodi Factor.

Factor said she cannot discuss inmates individually, or how they are treated, but said Overmyer is treated by the staff as any regular inmate.

He wears a blue shirt and blue pants and has access to a bed, dresser, writing desk and a 2.4 cubic foot locker box.

Overmyer is in protective custody with 90 other inmates, separated from the general population of more than 1,500 inmates.

Factor said inmates in protective custody are protected from potential harm from other inmates.

While she did not say if inmates and prison staff have been informed that Overymer was a sheriff, Factor did say it is possible for people to find out who Overmyer is.

"Staff and inmates have access to media — so it is very likely that both staff and inmates know," Factor said.

Overmyer will be eligible for early release in January 2020 after he has completed 80 percent of his sentence.

In recordings of jail calls obtained by The News-Messenger through public records requests, the former sheriff said he was confident he would be released early on "shock probation."

However, the special prosecutor for the case, Carol Hamilton O'Brien, said elected officials convicted of crimes such as theft in office are not eligible for early release.

Overmyer's double life was revealed in calls made while being held at the Erie County Jail to his family and his girlfriend Dana Miller.

Overmyer asserted to Miller that he did not feed his drug addiction with the pills he collected from the area police departments' drug take-back boxes.

"So that's still a mystery?" Miller asked him. "You happen to have this drug problem and had access to those boxes and you're telling me you didn't take it?"

"And it went through my mind and I did not do it," Overmyer said.

Overmyer professed his love for Miller, while telling his family she was only a friend.

The former sheriff also spent lavishly during his time as sheriff, racking up $180,000 in credit card debt while in office.

O'Brien said Overmyer, as an elected official, was required to report all financial debts to the state ethics board, but failed to do so.

The financial disclosure forms are to ensure there are no potential conflicts of interests involving debts and how an elected official operates.